page_title: Energy in Spain
section_title: Overview
hierarchical_section_title: Energy in Spain / Overview
caption_attribution_description: self made. Aeroxeneradores en Carnota, Galicia
context_page_description: Primary energy consumption in Spain in 2015 was mainly composed of fossil fuels.
  The largest sources are oil, natural gas and coal.
  The remaining 26.3% is accounted for nuclear energy and different renewable energy sources.
  Domestic production of primary energy includes nuclear, solar, wind and geothermal, biomass and waste, hydropower and fossil.
  According to The World Factbook, in 2011 Spain produced 276.8 TWh of electricity. In the same year, Spain consumed only 249.7 TWh of electricity.
  In the early 2000s, huge investment has been made into Spain's renewable energy industry.
  Spain aims to be carbon-free before 2050. According to Red Electrica de España, the Spanish peninsula got 69 percent of its electricity generation in March 2015 from technologies that produce zero carbon emissions.
  Nuclear as a whole provided 23.8 percent of the country’s electricity in March, while 47 percent came solely from renewable sources.
  Most of the renewable electricity being generated in Spain comes from wind, which alone provided 22.5 percent of the country’s electricity in April 2015.
context_section_description: Spain has long been a leader in renewable energy, and has recently become the first country in the world to have relied on wind as its top energy source for an entire year. The country is attempting to use wind power to supply 40 percent of its electricity consumption by 2020.
  At the same time, Spain is also developing other renewable sources of energy, particularly solar photovoltaic. Though it currently only accounts for about 3 percent of electricity generation, Spain’s solar industry is one of the largest in the world, according to Al Jazeera. In 2012, it reported that solar power accounted for almost 2,000 MW. Comparatively in the United States, there were 3,313 MW of solar photovoltaic installations that same year.
  Though the U.S. may have more solar cumulatively, Spain’s solar makes up more of the smaller country’s electricity use as a whole. In 2013, solar accounted for about 0.2 percent of the net electricity produced in the United States, according to the Institute for Energy Research. That same year, solar accounted for 3.1 percent of Spain’s total electricity, according to REE.
  Spain’s renewable energy story hasn't been all good news. The country’s aggressive goals have been heavily subsidized by its government, and the government has fallen into economic distress as a result. Specifically, the New York Times reported in 2013 that Spain’s tariff deficit had built up a cumulative debt of about €26 billion ($35 billion). Since then, however, the country has slashed its subsidies, putting the bulk of costs back on the power utilities themselves.
  The subsidy cuts happened last summer, and since then renewable energy has not significantly grown in the country as a whole. But it has grown substantially in at least one part of Spain — the tiny island of El Hierro, which is nearing its goal to be powered 100 percent by wind and water.
caption: Wind turbines in Galicia, the fourth largest producer of wind power in Spain.[6]
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image Software": "Imagen digital ACD Systems", "Image DateTime": "2006:06:02 19:19:54", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "121", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF SubSecTime": "890", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1600", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1200", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "187"}